“The Bedouin owed no taxes, paid no landlord, recognized no borders. The Arabian peninsula from which he sprang, had remained remote and beyond the grasp of the conquests of Egypt and Rome. In the punishing desert a cruel culture evolved that matched the brutal dictates of nature. While the world of progress passed him by, the Bedouins survived largely by plundering the vulnerable. Strong sheiks with no more compassion than the blistering sun showed little mercy to the weak. The Bedouin was thief, assassin, and raider, and hard labor was immoral.”

Is the answer simply to exclude both Uris and Keegstra from freedom of expression’s protection? Keegstra makes racist claims that play on the fears and prejudices of some members of the community. Uris’s narrative builds on ethnic and religious stereotypes, which may be assimilated by the reader without conscious, or at least careful, consideration. The line-drawing problem, however, is not resolved by redrawing the line in another place. The problem is much deeper than the unclear distinction between what Keegstra says and what Uris writes. Madame Justice McLachlin has not simply chosen a bad example with The Haj. Racial and other stereotypes are so deeply entrenched in our culture, our language, and our thinking that it is impossible to isolate clearly the offensive claims of Keegstra and the offensive stereotyping of Uris from ordinary public discourse. A wide range of expression, both extreme and ordinary, conveys racist attitudes and contributes to the spread or reinforcement of racist opinion in the community. This is the real line-drawing problem. It is much deeper than Madame Justice McLachlin supposes.

"It was late and everyone had left the cafe except an old man who sat in the shadow the leaves of the tree made against the electric light. In the daytime the street was dusty, but at night the dew settled the dust and the old man liked to sit late because he was deaf and now at night it was quiet and he felt the difference. The two waiters inside the cafe knew that the old man was a little drunk, and while he was a good client they knew that if he became too drunk he would leave without paying, so they kept watch on him."

Hmm. I thought this would be a easy one. Notice the effortless cluster of "d" words in this the opening paragraph. Like him or not the man was an artist.

To live long enough to be in the right place at the right time to make one's fortune. Yes, yes, hard work and talent make up the difference. They are crucial, and you know I'd never argue different. But the foundation of all lives is luck. Good or bad. Luck is life and life is luck. And it's leaking from the moment it lands in your hand.

Oh! Now I see. You are right tsuwm, as I re-read his paragraph I too find Lehane's thoughts somewhat worthwhile and different.Sorry.

Ok, who wrote this... (a translation)

By contrast, today, when the herd animal in Europe is the only one who attains and distributes honours, when “equality of rights” all too easily can get turned around into equality of wrongs— what I mean is into a common war against everything rare, strange, privileged, the higher men, the higher souls, the higher duty, the higher responsibility, the creative fullness of power and mastery—these days the sense of being noble, of willing to be for oneself, of being able to be different, of standing alone and of having to live by one’s own initiative—these are part of the idea “greatness,” and the philosopher will reveal something of his own ideal if he proposes “The man who is to be great is the one who can be the most solitary, the most hidden, the most deviant, the man beyond good and evil, lord of his virtues, a man lavishly endowed with will—this is precisely what greatness is to be called: it is able to be as much a totality as something multi-faceted, as wide as it is full.” And to ask the question again: today—is greatness possible?

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